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Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Hi All!
Long time no blog!
Well - so much has been going on and I've not felt much like writing lately. AND I've been away from the internet...

I got my Free to low income people phone. I chose to go with the Safelink company which gives me a few months of double minutes and UNLIMITED text messaging. My phone seems to be working fine. It is NOT a smart phone - so no pictures, no email, and old school text typing on a basic Huawei phone. I'm pretty happy with it so far. I had to get a new phone number so I did loose contact with a few people who had the old number. If you are trying to reach me, you can use the blogger contact page to send me an email and give me a number to reach you at. Texting works pretty well although they are shorter than I used to type because of the format on this phone.

Ozzie update: well, I thought that he had lost his voice in his accident. Darn, he didn't (just kidding). I find it kind of incredible that he seems to be fine. His wounds are healing well and I think just began the itchy scab stage. He's been able to rest well, as where we are currently staying there are no dogs. When in town though he barks like crazy at BIG dogs so we use his carrying crate/kennel thing more often - I figure if he can't see them, there is less stress and less barking.

I'm physically well. Mentally I'm doing okay - off and on I have a memory thing pop up that momentarily interferes with the present (that's part of PTSD). I had that happen the other day while helping at a friend's ranch and they decided to work on a welding project...I don't do well with sparks and batteries and grinders and well all that kinda stuff...nor lightening! Anyway, I found a way to manage by smiling and running away to find a different project...I'm pretty good at managing.

Location update: I'm still in the general area of the land that I am acquiring soon. I have moved, temporarily, to a neighboring town called Concho Valley. We actually moved my project travel trailer to a friend's property so that they could help me renovate it for living. I haven't said much about this project because it can seem daunting or overwhelming to some people and I need to hear positive feedback. I actually was given a 1959 Kencraft Travel Trailer. This project trailer was left in the desert and trashed by whomever wanted to pull a piece off of it. So I got it with only a few windows, an old stove (which I traded for some work), the sink and a few cabinet doors...it also came with about a foot or two of sand and a family of (all gone now) rats! ewww.

Ozzie and I sleep in the car at night and work on the project most days. It has been rather rainy and with thunderstorms producing hail, there have been quite a few days when we couldn't work at all. BUT - the great news is that we have the roof repaired and coated, the cast iron plumbing pipe removed and most of the demolition is finished. We prepared the rear wall for its rebuild yesterday by removing the aluminum skin and all the rotten wood has been removed. You may wonder as I do sometimes, how I can afford to do this kind of project on my measly monthly budget -- well, I find useful stuff, I try to take on only projects that have some good left in them and I pinch every penny till it screams! I spent only $30 on household items this month - that's food (thank our society for food pantries), dog treats, everything... I gave up my smartphone and it's $50 a month bill. The paneling I need to use for the trailer is $9 a sheet I'm probably going to use a total of 4, the 2x2's that will replace rotten studs are $2 each and I will need a couple 1x3 boards that are $4 each. Windows I took from other old trailers are not exactly going to fit...so I am rethinking some of what I want to do. My two front windows were going to have glass but the guy that cut it tried to give me untempered really thin window glass that I was scared to put in the car, never mind drive down the road on a trailer...so we renegotiated for Lexan that was way more than I wanted to spend though less expensive that buying sheets of it at Lowe's or Home Depot and no risk of cutting it myself. Soooo - $100 for my front windows (yeah for me that's an ouch) we worked out a payment plan so I can continue to fund the work that needs to be done right away, like more windows, wood for rebuilding that wall -- things like flooring and paint can wait until next payday.

I just saw my ride to Home Depot, with a pick-up truck, pass by the library window so I need to finish up and go meet him. I don't have any pictures to share right now - no smart phone remember!
Have a great week or so till I get back to blogging. Leave comments, I will respond as soon as I can.